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The U.S. dollar rallied across the board on Friday after data showed the world's largest economy created more jobs than expected last month, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve will pause its rate-cutting cycle at its policy meeting later this month. The dollar rose to its highest since July against the yen after the data and was last up 0.1% at 158.27 yen. The U.S. currency has risen in five of the last six weeks.

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LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices rallied more than 4% on Friday to reach their highest levels since October as traders focused on potential supply disruptions from more sanctions on Russia. Brent crude futures gained $3.50, or 4.6%, to $80.42 a barrel by 1422 GMT, reaching $80 a barrel for the first time since Oct.7. The United States will impose some of the harshest sanctions on the Russian oil industry to date, designating 180 vessels, dozens of traders, two major oil companies and some top Russian oil executives, a document seen by Reuters said.

December's jobs report will be the final look at the labor market before the Federal Reserve announces its next interest rate decision on Jan. 31.

The strength of the U.S. economic recovery post-COVID and a quest for safe-haven investments helped boost U.S. dominance of global financial flows, while manufacturing incentives led to a surge in foreign direct investment, the White House said on Friday. In its final report before President Joe Biden leaves office, his Council of Economic Advisers said the U.S. had become a magnet for foreign investment given the resilience of the U.S. recovery.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 256,000 jobs last month after rising by a downwardly revised 212,000 in November, the Labor Department said on Friday. "At this point in the cycle, earnings will need to improve – and not just within the large tech companies – in order to have markets “grow into” their already high valuations, so we would be cautious in the short term."

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